Month: May 2016

Ronnie O’Sullivan OBE and, yet, “undercooked”

Monique Interview, Media ,

Yesterday, Ronnie recieved his OBE at Buckingham Palace, as reported by various media, this particular excerpt being from the Daily Mail

Ronnie O’Sullivan enjoyed a royal welcome on Friday as he collected his OBE at Buckingham Palace, supported by Footballers Wives actress and partner Laila Rouass.

The Rocket, a five-time world champion, was handed his gong by Prince Charles at the formal investiture, having been named on the New Year Honours list in December.

O’Sullivan, who said he was not deserving of such an award two years ago, wore a dark suit and black tie to the event on a bright and warm afternoon in the capital.
Afterwards, he posed for photographs with Rouass. The former Holby City star, who became engaged to O’Sullivan in 2013, posted a message on Twitter which read: ‘A proud day’.

O’Sullivan’s mother, Maria, was also at the event to see her son pick up his award.

The snooker star said it was ‘surreal’ to be at the Palace and one of the best moments of his career.

Despite his nerves, O’Sullivan said Charles made him feel so at ease that at first he forgot to address him as ‘Sir’.

He said: ‘Winning world titles is great – and don’t get me wrong, they are special moments – but I didn’t expect to feel how I feel.’

Pictures published on various social media, including Ronnie’s FB page

And here you can watch and listen to Ronnie’s interview on the occasion: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/embed/video/1289170.html

Ronnie also spoke to the media about how inadequate preparation was at the root of his early exit at tha World Championship. This excerpt is from sportinglife

The five-time Crucible champion and tournament favourite suffered a surprise second round defeat to Barry Hawkins at Sheffield.

O’Sullivan thinks his lack of competitive action in the build up to the Championship was to blame for the early exit and has vowed to play in more tournaments to become match-sharp for next year.

The 40-year-old, who received his OBE for services to snooker from the Prince of Wales on Friday,  said: “I probably wouldn’t change much other than just to play a few more tournaments.

“It’s like making a dish – you have to get the right balance of the right ingredients and this year I probably played too many exhibition matches, but for those exhibition matches I was scoring well and potting well.

“So maybe play a little bit less exhibitions and a few more tournaments, and then once you get the right balance then I have got the right attacking, right defensive game, and then I’ll be better equipped to win tournaments if I’m not playing at my best.

“It’s very difficult to win when you’re not at your best. Probably Mark Selby is one of the only players that can do it, but if I’m playing at 70, 80 per cent then I’m still capable of winning tournaments.”

O’Sullivan said of his OBE: “Winning world titles is great – and don’t get me wrong, they are special moments – but I didn’t expect to feel how I feel.”

He hopes to have another decade at the top of the game.

“I won’t beat myself up, I look forward to the next season and the next World Championships,” he said.

“If anything the standard now, a lot of the older players are doing better now than they used to, so hopefully I have got another 10-odd years.”

 

Farewell and thank you SnookerRoom

Monique Media

This morning, I found the annoucement the SnookerRoom channel is no more

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Dear friends and snooker fans!

It’s time to announce that our project called SnookerRoom come to it’s end. Unlicensed broadcasting is bad, bad, BAD!!! It is illegal and it makes harm to the sport and players. Of course you understand it and you have just the same opinion, especially when you’re sitting in the office of World Snooker or in London’s branch of IMG corporation with billion annual revenue.

Honestly we have a slightly different point of view, but we can’t resist to business sharks. We don’t believe that the organization of webcasts to a small number of loyal fans of snooker caused damage to anyone of the players. We made lots of broadcasts and records of the game to those of you who could not take advantage of the TV or official streams due to territorial or some other reasons… However the commercial director of World Snooker Mr. Pearce (milespearce@hotmail.com) and IMG lawyers clearly know their interests and therefore demand to remove content from our YouTube channel as well as website broadcasts, otherwise we will be prosecuted/threatened litigation and harassment.

We tried to keep alive our channel, which has more than 66 thousand subscribers, and which entirely covered snooker life last years. Moreover, we proposed different compromises to right holders: to put a TM on every video, to indicate their authorship, to give them the whole YouTube channel just to keep it alive without removal of all videos… Well. There is no compromise. All the people who could not see snooker because of the circumstances now is left without snooker. It’s like a sad joke. they say that SnookerRoom s extremely harmful, but they use the video of our YouTube channel even at the World Championship in Sheffield.

We apologize to the players, who suffered some losses because of our activity. The losses which are declared by pricey lawyers of right holders… We hope that we did our best for the promotion of the game which we love. SnookerRoom tried to convey the universe of snooker to those who wanted it, not to harm the game. Thank you for your support, guys! Thank you for watching us, dear friends! Keep calm and love snooker!

P.S. From now @snookerroom twitter account will be maintained by its previous owner. He is not related to our YouTube channel, website or group in Facebook.

I deeply regret that it has come to this, and I will try to explain why.

I totally understand and accept that intellectual property and rights have to be respected, but then … it shouldn’t be a one way thing.

For several years, as a keen snooker fan, I have been paying for every possible official source of broadcasting available to me, in Belgium where I live. Through my telephony and Internet provider, I pay to be able to watch BBC and Eurosport – ITV isn’t available. I also have a subscription to the Worldsnooker streaming … since it became available. And finally I also pay for the Eurosport player subscription.

Despite this, only too often, I have not been able to watch the sport I love, except through “illegal” streaming. Why is that?

Despite paying to watch BBC (only BBC 1 and 2 are made available to me), I don’t have access to the red button functionality. I don’t have access to the iplayer and I don’t have access to the videos on BBC website. Recently even using a VPN hasn’t helped, they are getting smarter.

Despite paying for Eurosport, I’m not always able to watch snooker when it’s on. Why? Because I only have the choice to watch ES on the NL and FR channels, and ES2 only on FR. As you know, if you follow Eurosport, local channels have a good degree of freedom as what they chose to show and, in particular for the FR channel, snooker isn’t high on the list. Moreover, they don’t always respect their published schedules: I’ve stopped counting how often cycling, football or winter sports go overtime at the expense of the snooker, even when the snooker is “live” and the other sport is actually a replay! This also means that when, as a working person, I record the broadcasting, I’m never guaranteed to actually record what I want to record because the snooker has been shifted to another timeslot, or to the other channel, without prior notice. And, as a last note, the commentary on the FR channel is beyond terrible, they have no clue about the sport.

Despite paying for the Worldsnooker streaming, I only too often was unable to watch it because of the “territorial restrictions”. Now I wouldn’t mind if I had actual access to the snooker through Eurosport or BBC, but as I explained just above, this was not always the case, far from it.

I also pay for the Eurosport player, which has often proven to be be the most reliable official source. But then again, it did not give me access to the UK ES channels, which means that I had no chance to follow their punditry or commentary, and when I had the opportunity to follow the Ronnie O’Sullivan show, it was with an annoying voice-over translation that I don’t need and don’t want.

Finally SnookerRoom provided a wealth of videos of past matches, a service that none of the above official channels offer at all. For people new to the sport eager to learn about its history and past matches and players, it was a great source. The “Classic Matches” during the World Championship were hugely appreciated, which proves there is a demand for this, that isn’t currently covered by any “official” source. SnookerRoom did it.

For all those reasons, I find it hard to understand how a project like theirs was actually damaging the sport. Yes, I’m sure a number of people opted out of the paying sources because they knew they could watch it for free. But was this “damage” bigger than the benefits of the promotion and exposure the channel brought to snooker? Personally I doubt it very much, but maybe I’m being naive. Wasn’t there really no possible compromise?

Anyway, I once again want to thank the SnookerRoom team for what they offered to me as a fan, and it was a lot, and I don’t have a bad conscience for using their “illegal” service at all because I did and still do pay for all official sources available to me …

 

2015/16 Awards and honours

Monique Media, Professional snooker tournament ,

Yesterday was the Annual Awards day in the Dorchester in London and here is Worldsnooker report on the evening.

John Higgins was named snooker’s Player of the Year at the sport’s annual awards ceremony in London tonight.

Higgins won two ranking titles during the 2015/16 season, the Australian Goldfields Open and International Championship, and climbed from 13th to 6th in the world rankings.

Mark Selby was named Snooker Journalists Player of the Year after winning the World Championship and finishing the season top of the world rankings. Selby’s Crucible triumph also earned him the Performance of the Year award.

The Kunlunshan Fans Player of the Year award, which included votes from fans on Twitter, Weibo and WeChat, went to Ronnie O’Sullivan, who won the Masters and Welsh Open.

Darryl Hill from the Isle of Man won the Rookie of the Year award after climbing to 92nd place in the world rankings during his debut season.

The Magic Moment of the Year category was won by Ali Carter for winning the Paul Hunter Classic, his first tournament victory since returning to the tour following battles with cancer.

Former World Champion Stuart Bingham was inducted into snooker’s Hall of Fame, alongside Rex Williams and Sindhu Pulsirivong.

Snooker legend Steve Davis, who announced his retirement last month, was given a special Lifetime Achievement Award.

The awards ceremony at the Dorchester Hotel also helped raised money for Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice, which is World Snooker’s official charity – for more details see

http://www.bluebellwood.org

Full list of awards:

World Snooker Player of the Year: John Higgins

Snooker Journalists Player of the Year: Mark Selby

Fans Player of the Year: Ronnie O’Sullivan

Rookie of the Year: Darryl Hill

Performance of the Year: Mark Selby

Magic Moment of the Year: Ali Carter

Hall of Fame inductees: Stuart Bingham, Rex Williams and Sindhu Pulsirivong.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Steve Davis

I’m not sure I fully agree with the list …

Whilst winning the World Championship, despite being far from is best, was a fantastic effort by Mark Selby, I think that a few other performances this season could have been recognised as “performance of the year”:

  • Kyren Wilson winning the Shanghai Masters as a qualifyer
  • Alan McManus reaching the World Semi finals as a qualifier, at 45, 23 years after getting there for the first time.
  • Ding reaching the World Final as a qualifier, especially considering the enormous pressure he’s under all the time, carrying China’s expectations. Not forgetting he broke several records in the process.
  • Or Ali Carter winning the Paul Hunter Classic, returning from two hellish seasons, battling cancer: this was more a performance than a “moment” in my eyes.

I’m also not convinced that awarding John Higgins “Player of the year” for winning the Australian Open and International championship is the best choice. How is that better than winning the Champion of Champions and UK Championship (Neil Robertson) or the Masters and the Welsh Open (Ronnie O’Sullivan)?  Granted these are two ranking events, but frankly the Australian Open isn’t the most prestigious, or one with a particularly strong and motivated field. Both the UK Championship and the Masters are far more prestigious and coveted titles than any  Higgins won.

And for me the “magic moment” of the year was China Team B, two teenagers, celebrating their win over seasoned pros at the World Cup. The sheer delight of the two boys, so genuine, so refreshing, so spontaneous it was infectious.

Honouring Steve Davis was of course totally appropriate and deserved.

Also I believe that mentioning and rewarding how well Stuart Bingham acquitted himself of his ambassadorial duties as a World Champion should have been appropriate.

Today, Ronnie will be at Buckingham Palace to receive his OBE … I wonder if he will wear a tie for the occasion.

And, yes, Ronnie said, during the snooker awards ceremony, that he will play more next season … he needs to!

Crucible 2016: aftermaths …

Monique Professional snooker tournament

So the season is over and here are a few thoughts and news as an aftermath of the World Championship.

Tickets crisis 

This year, more than ever, fans have found it hard to get tickets at an affordable price. Yet, there were plenty of empty seats in the arena on the first day of the final: I was there, I saw it with my own eyes. So what’s the problem? Well I gave my opinion on this in a previous post. It hasn’t changed, I believe that the capacity of the Crucible is far below the demand and this in turn generates unhealthy speculation.

On the day of the final, tickets for next year went on sale. I was online within a minute of the launch, trying to get tickets for the final. There was already a queue of 3000+ ahead of me. I went to the theatre itself, and people were queuing up to half of Tudor square…

Is this sustainable? I don’t think so …

Crucible, we love you 

Despite this ticket issue, fans, sponsors and players essentially would like to stay at the Crucible. No money can buy you history. They should be happy as it has been announced that the World Championship will stay there for another decade. This has been widely reported in the press and this article is just one of many on the subject.

Global sport

Ding’s run to the final boosted interest in snooker in China, as you might guess. It is reported that no less than 210 millions watched the match on CCTV5 only … now, don’t come up again with the “18.5 millions in 1985” and “snooker is dying” nonsense. There is a world outside UK, and television outside the BBC, you know…

Sour grapes? 

Mark Selby is a hard, hard match player, who never gives up and will use every strength he has to win. That’s what he did during the final. This is why he is Champion again.

Yet it attracted criticism, and suggestions by fellow pros that the rules should be changed. Have a look at the twitter feeds of Stephen Hendry, Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson.  Personally I wouldn’t want any rule change, especially any change that would turn snooker into some kind of pool. The only thing I would want to see is the section 4 of the rules being enforced. But that would have made no difference in this final: neither Mark Selby, nor Ding took unduly long time over shots. Mark often chose safety over attack, knowing he is brilliant at it, and why should he not?

Punditry

Someone who didn’t criticise Mark Selby, despite obvious sympathy for Ding and his style of play, is Ronnie. He was in the studio, with Jimmy White and Neil Foulds, and occasionally with Ronnie Wood and Dolly the dog, and their analysis and comments were both interesting, intelligent and fair. You can listen to them commenting during the final, plus a few very nice features and interviews. Thanks Snooker For All

The Semi Finals:

2016 WSC: preview+MSI+review of the Ding Junhui – Alan McManus match (Session3, Eurosport)

2016 WSC: preview+MSI of the Mark Selby – Marco Fu match (Session4, Eurosport)

The Final:

Session 1:

MissingClip 2016 WSC: preview+MSI+review of the Mark Selby – Ding Junhui match (Session1, Eurosport)

Session2:

MissingClip 2016 WSC: preview+MSI+review of the Mark Selby – Ding Junhui match (Session2, Eurosport)

Session 3:

MissingClip 2016 WSC: preview+MSI+review of the Mark Selby – Ding Junhui match (Session3, Eurosport)

Session 4:

MissingClip 2016 WSC: preview+MSI+review of the Mark Selby – Ding Junhui match (Session4, Eurosport)

All detailed results are on cuetracker.net

Crucible 2016: Mark Selby is the Champion

Monique Professional snooker tournament

WC2016SelbyChampion

Mark Selby won the World Championship for the second time yesterday evening, beating Ding Junhui by 18-14.

It was Ding’s first World final and he was very nervous at the start, quite understandably: apparently over 200 millions were watching in China!  He trailed 6-0 and never managed to catch up. But, on several occasions, he came back only one frame behind Selby. He gave it all, never gave up, and I’m certain now that he will win this one day. He’s too good not to.

As for Mark Selby he showed once again how tough he is, how much he wants it. He came to this tournament in rather poor form, but battled and battled. It wadn’t always pretty, and he got stick on social media, for playing on for unlikely snookers, and making it though for his opponents, repeatidely,bringing frames over the 45 minutes mark. But, hey, he was there to win and win he did. So, pretty or not, one can only say “Well done!” because this is sport, and Mark resilience – and skills – deserve respect and admiration.

Those who watched Eurosport UK will know that this is exactly what Ronnie stressed: it’s a great asset – and he used the words “an art” – to be able to win when far from ones best.

Mark of course was over the moon, not just to win, but also because his beloved Leicester City Football Club won the Premier League as well that very night. Apparently he celebrated by serving the people who attended the Champion’s party another singing performance. A man of many talents …

And this concludes the 2015/16 season …

Crucible 2016: to a conclusion

Monique Professional snooker tournament

The semi finals of the World Championship 2016 concluded – late – yesterday evening and they served us two great matches, albeit very different ones.

Ding Junhui beat Alan Mac Manus in a very high quality, high scoring match that featured 10 centuries, 7 from Ding, both new Crucible records. Mark Selby got the better of Marco Fu in a hard fought, long battle, involving some stellar safeties and unexpected misses from both.

But Hector Nunns is telling the story far better that I ever could. Read it here, on inside-snooker.

During the Ding v McManus match Ronnie tweeted:

I think if ding wins this worlds the flood gates could open, he cues so accurate and efficient

I believe he’s very right there. If Ding wins tomorrow night, he might well go on and dominate the sport, once that monkey is off his back. He’s a beautiful player, very skilful, imaginative, and a nice lad as well. .